4 ms·

Anyone know why it seems that Feynman is coming under attack lately - most prominently by You Tuber Angela Collier whose "the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" n

Anyone know why it seems that Feynman is coming under attack lately - most prominently by You Tuber Angela Collier whose "the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" now has nearly 1M views? I don't understand it at all.

artifact_44 2y ago
Because she thoroughly de-articulates the fabricated mystique around Feynman, and openly discusses the toxic effect his legacy has had on science. (Including the fact that a lot of his legacy was fabricated by people that either admired him, or wished to capitalize on that legacy.) Her video on Feynman is long and detailed, and very sobering. I highly recommend it. It absolutely/expertly challenged everything I thought I knew about him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
afterburner 2y ago
If you watch it all the way to the end (or skip towards the end if you like), she does mention this legacy is a result of exaggerated stories not even written down by him, but related second hand by people around him with their own attitudes (and financial inventives). He was probably not an angel, even a bit of a cocky dick maybe sometimes in the way of the times, and perhaps a bit vain, but stories related second hand when he was probably joking around don't necessarily represent the true history of his life. She has good things to say about him in the end, from the evidence of his actual behaviour, like doing education outreach and loving his wife.
tovej 2y ago
Well, for one, he strangled his wife when he got upset: https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/richard-feynman-physical-abuse-science-wife-fbi.html https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/richard-feynman-physica...
dinkumthinkum 2y ago
I don't want to get into it but she is a nice person and is quite smart but she is a far leftist and interprets many things through a Marxist and anti-capitalist world-view with a very millennial kind of approach. So, I would tend take a lot of things she says with a grain of salt.
- nurettin 2y ago
  I'm 2 minutes in, she's doing her hardest to dis F and failing miserably.
nmz 2y ago
I suppose its the evolution of destroying everything that the previous generation likes in an effort to prove wrongdoing and their own modern superiority. It's why OK Boomer is an insult. But what do I know.

artifact_44 2y ago

Because she thoroughly de-articulates the fabricated mystique around Feynman, and openly discusses the toxic effect his legacy has had on science. (Including the fact that a lot of his legacy was fabricated by people that either admired him, or wished to capitalize on that legacy.) Her video on Feynman is long and detailed, and very sobering. I highly recommend it. It absolutely/expertly challenged everything I thought I knew about him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc

afterburner 2y ago

If you watch it all the way to the end (or skip towards the end if you like), she does mention this legacy is a result of exaggerated stories not even written down by him, but related second hand by people around him with their own attitudes (and financial inventives). He was probably not an angel, even a bit of a cocky dick maybe sometimes in the way of the times, and perhaps a bit vain, but stories related second hand when he was probably joking around don't necessarily represent the true history of his life. She has good things to say about him in the end, from the evidence of his actual behaviour, like doing education outreach and loving his wife.

tovej 2y ago

Well, for one, he strangled his wife when he got upset: https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/richard-feynman-physical-abuse-science-wife-fbi.html https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/richard-feynman-physica...

dinkumthinkum 2y ago

I don't want to get into it but she is a nice person and is quite smart but she is a far leftist and interprets many things through a Marxist and anti-capitalist world-view with a very millennial kind of approach. So, I would tend take a lot of things she says with a grain of salt.

nurettin 2y ago
I'm 2 minutes in, she's doing her hardest to dis F and failing miserably.

nmz 2y ago

I suppose its the evolution of destroying everything that the previous generation likes in an effort to prove wrongdoing and their own modern superiority. It's why OK Boomer is an insult. But what do I know.